Mizuho Said to Hire Ex-Lehman Electronic Trading Team

Bloomberg – Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan’s second-largest bank by revenue, will start electronic trading in Asia after hiring a team of 16 former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. employees, two executives familiar with the plan said.

The team, led by Anthony Brooker, the former head of electronic trading sales for Lehman in Asia, will target hedge funds and institutional investors with electronic products and systems for equities trading, the executives said. They declined to be identified as the plan isn’t public.

Mizuho, which cut its full-year profit forecast 55 percent on Oct. 31 because of rising bad loans and investment losses, is building its equity trading business in Asia to challenge Nomura Holdings Inc. Brooker was among hundreds of Lehman employees who opted to join competitors rather than staying with Nomura after the firm agreed to buy Lehman operations in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Nomura is taking over about 8,000 Lehman workers following the Wall Street firm’s collapse in September.